Running
by qu33nofthecastle
Summary: What would happen if Voldemort was never defeated and the boys had to go and fight? What if Hermione ran away? What would happen if one day, she had to come back? RHr. Read and Review!


**Running**

We were all crying.

No exception.

Beside me, Ginny was hanging on to Harry as if letting him go would kill her. I was crying softly into Ron's chest, just making the most of the few minutes we had left together. I felt him kiss the top of my head and I looked up at him. His eyes were red and then I heard their 'chief' say that they were leaving. Ron bent his head down, leaning his forehead against mine and I saw a single tear fall from his cheek. He kissed me like he'd never kissed me before. Not even like he had last night. Not even like our first kiss. It was filled with goodbyes and love and grief. And before I knew it, I was waving goodbye to him before I heard the pop that signalled his disapparition.

I collapsed.

I walked around the kitchen of our house, preparing the breakfast of a little girl who would soon be coming down the stairs on her bottom demanding her breakfast. Getting the three eggs needed to satisfy her appetite from the fridge and making sure that she was not coming down the stairs at the moment, I pulled out my wand and pointed it at the eggs which magically scrambled themselves. I set the eggs, a piece of toast and a cup with orange juice on the table.

I then proceeded to go and check my office as I did religiously every morning. This was the only room Rose was not allowed to come in. It was the room where I kept my old Hogwarts books and clothes. It was also where all Ron's stuff was kept. I had promised myself that I would not expose Rose to any magic. She was not showing any signs of it yet but I knew that with parents who accomplished as much as they had, she would have been a great witch. I looked around the room, searching for any change. I looked out the window hoping that there would be an owl waiting for me to open the window and deliver its package. Nothing was there, just like every other morning I checked. Sighing, I went back down to the kitchen where I waited for Rose to come down the stairs and my day would start. I would lie to her, something I hated to do.

My breath hitched. It was the day I dreaded the most every year. The first of September. The day he left. The day after she began. The day I left.

I walked downstairs keeping the tears from falling at the memory. That day, I would tell Rose the story I told her every year. She had no idea that it was about her very own parents. She thought it was a story about witches and wizards that had to go to war.

I heard the sound of her light footsteps come down the stairs and wiped the tears away. Today, Rosie would not go to school and I would spend the day with her. She was all that kept me together. I needed her there that one day in the year. My four year old daughter walked into the kitchen, her medium length red hair shooting up in different directions and her blue eyes sleepy.

'Good morning, lovely.' I said as she waved to me, obviously too tired to say anything. She was the clone of her father. A more perfect match didn't exist. She had inherited all of his good looks and his feeding habits. Most of her personality corresponded to mine –smart, stubborn and bossy. The rest of her was her father precisely. I picked her up and placed her on her highchair in front of the table and put her food in front of her and then went to get mine.

'Are you ready for the story?' I asked her as she took a bite of apple. She nodded and I noticed her features light up a bit at the sound of the story. 'OK, where do I start then?' I asked knowing perfectly well where she wanted me to start. For a small child, she had a good memory.

'The beginning. Duh.' She replied looking at me, ashamed that I didn't already know.

'Alright. There were once these three friends. They were inseparable although they didn't like each other at the beginning. Their names were Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.' And for the rest of the morning, I told her about these three and how they fought Lord Riddle when they were just teenagers in school. I told her how Rupert and Emma fell in love and how Dan fell in love with Rupert's sister, Bonnie. I told her that Rupert and Dan had to leave Bonnie and Emma because they had to fight in the war that was taking place. I told her how the boys came back after two years and Rupert found that he had a daughter called Jasmine but he was very happy about it. The end I invented as how I imagined Ron would come back to us. Of course, I had the constant reminder that he was not in fact back and I often had to think that one day, they would come back and we could all be a family again.

I hadn't talked to Ginny since the boys left. It hurt too much to see the hair and the eyes that I loved so much. She doesn't know about Rose. At the end of the story, Rose was getting a bit restless so I sent her to the playroom so that I could go and check my office. I knew I would find nothing there but the thought that maybe I might (it was a very small maybe) was always comforting.

So that morning of the 1st of September, I walked into the office that was once Ron and mine's bedroom expecting to find that nothing had changed. Boy was I wrong.

There, sitting on the window sill, was a small grey owl I recognised immediately. It was Pig. I ran to the window not aware what I was doing, only that there was an owl waiting for me. I pulled the letter off the string that tied it to the small bird's leg. I pulled it open and read.

'_Were at St. Mungo's.'_

I recognised Ginny's handwriting. And I didn't have to be told twice.

I ran down the stairs to the play room and told Rose to get her shoes on, that we were going on an outing. When she was appropriately dressed for September weather, I pulled her in my arms and prayed that I could still apparate.

I told Rose to hang on tight and I turned on my heel, thinking only of St. Mungo's. We were suddenly taken in a pressure and I held Rose's head to my shoulder to keep her from being affected by the pressure. Rose.

Why did I bring Rose? Obviously I wasn't thinking. How was I going to explain that I had a daughter that just happened to look exactly like Ron Weasley? I was going to have to explain to them what I'd been hiding.

I walked to the front desk when we landed and asked where I could find the Weasleys. The young woman at the desk told me they were on the fourth floor –the spell damage ward. I ran to the stairs and Rose whimpered along the way, probably petrified at the apparition. I got to the fourth floor and looked around for a group of redheads. I kept running until I got to the end of the corridor where the waiting room was. I immediately saw Ginny and Mr and Mrs Weasley. I went over to them and saw their faces. I immediately knew something was wrong. I stood in front of them and they stared at me. I put Rose down next to me and held onto her hand.

'What happened?' I asked when I saw that no one was going to explain anything at once.

'We don't know. We got a letter from Neville saying that they were here and we came straight away.' Said Mrs Weasley, 'Who's this?' she asked pointing to Rose who was now hiding behind my legs.

'This is Rose, my daughter.' I answered, waiting for a reaction which never came.

'I see there's no need to ask who the father is.' said Ginny in a whisper. I shook my head. I turned to Rose and picked her up. I sat on a chair opposite to the Weasleys and spoke in a whisper in her ear.

'Rosie,' I only called her this when she was scared, 'you know the story I tell you every year? It's about me. I'm Emma. That girl across from us is Bonnie. Her real name is Ginny. The people sitting next to her are your grandparents: Arthur and Molly. You're Jasmine and your father is in there right now because he went to war and he is hurt. I am a witch and you are a witch.' She looked up at me with the last emotion I expected to see in her eyes. Fear. She was always wishing she was a witch when I told her the story and for days after, she would walk around with a pen in her hand pretending she was a witch. But now she was afraid. 'Why are you scared, love?' I asked.

She didn't answer. She only hid her head in my chest and started shaking with what I could only imagine were tears. I looked around to see if there was a box of tissues lying around. I saw Ginny and saw that she was looking straight at me like she was trying to figure me out.

'Hey Ginny, can you pass me the box of tissues next to you, please?' I asked her politely. She completely ignored me and asked: 'Why?'

'Why what?' I asked though I had a rather good idea of what.

'Why did you leave? Why did you leave me to grieve on my own? Why didn't you tell me about Rose?' luckily for me, the Healer came in at that moment and asked to see us.

'Well,' he started like he didn't have a precise idea of what was happening, 'The four eldest are alright with no major injuries. A few extra arms and broken noses here and there but they will make a full and prompt recovery. The two youngest, however...' he cut off like he was thinking of a way to tell us something gently. I sucked in a breath. This was Ron and Harry. 'They are both unconscious right now and have, we think, suffered from more brutal injuries. They will all need to stay here under observation for at least two days but after that, they are free to go home. If you would like to follow me, I will take you to the recovery room where the boys are.'

We followed the Healer. He took us into a quiet room full of beds and I saw the heads of hair I had been dying to see for the past four years lying in those beds. There was George closest to the door, then Charlie. Opposite Charlie lay Percy who was waking up and looking around, disoriented. Next to him was Bill. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the people I was sure I would see next. I felt a tug on my pants and looked down to see Rose staring up at me with wide eyes. She pointed at Percy and I saw that he was looking at her with curiosity in his eye despite the fact that Mrs Weasley and Ginny were hugging him to the point of almost choking him. I walked over to him, glad for a distraction from what I had yet to see. I looked down at Rose and said: 'Rose, this is your uncle Percy.' She looked at me. I felt Percy's gaze turn to me and I looked over at him.

'Does he know?' he asked in a hoarse voice. I shook my head and looked down to my daughter. She was looking with wonder at Percy. She was holding a lock of her hair in her tiny fists. She started walking slowly towards him and looked from what I thought was his flaming red hair to hers. She inherited my brain so she was connecting the dots rather fast.

I took this opportunity to look around. I saw that the three other elder boys were or still asleep or just waking up. I then looked at the two beds furthest from the door. There, lying motionless, were the two people I had waited 4 years to see but I suddenly wished I had waited longer. I walked slowly to the beds and went towards Harry first. He had a large bandage covering his forehead and a few large cuts across his arms. He looked like he could be sleeping if it were not for the fact that he was barely breathing. I choked back a sob as I thought of what could have caused my best friend such pain.

I looked back at Rose and saw that she was questioning Percy with him looking slightly dazed and Ginny and Mrs Weasley looking at her with amused gazes. I went over to her. 'Rose,' I said calmly, 'Percy is very tired and he needs his rest, you can ask him all the questions you want later, OK?' she looked up at me with pleading eyes that resembled so much those of Ron and I had to look away just to not look at her. In the corner of my eye, I could see Ron's restless figure. I walked over to him and saw that he was very close to waking up. His eyes were parting and I got scared and ran. Like I did the last time when he left only I knew that this time, I couldn't stay and then bear it if he left again.

I ran until I reached the hospital doors and then still I ran. I ran and then I hid. I was inside a little cafe in one of the adjacent roads. I sat at a booth and ordered a coffee. Once it came, I didn't drink it but I pushed it away and put my head down on the counter-top. I don't know how long I stayed there but when I woke up, I found the coffee shop empty and a middle aged man walking my way. He came up to me and told me it was closing time. I paid and left wondering where to go. I then remembered that I had a daughter I'd left in the possession of the people whose heart I had broken.

I proceeded to walk back to the hospital wasting as much time as I could. When I finally got there, I found the most beautiful sight before my eyes. Ron and Rose had fallen asleep with her head on his chest and his chin was resting on the top of her forehead. Everyone else was preoccupied with their own quiet conversations and I could see Harry had woken up and was staring intently at the two redheads. I walked over to him, trying to remain unnoticed. That, of course, was a plan that failed before it was put to action. George spotted me and yelled my name across the room. Everyone looked up and I saw Ron stir. I looked around the room and saw everyone was staring between me and Ron.

'Well come here and give me a hug!' said George and I had to chuckle and oblige. I went over to give him a hug and he whispered in my ear as he held me a bit too tightly, 'you _broke_ his heart. You have one last chance.' I stepped away, pretending I hadn't heard for the others not to get too suspicious but gave the faintest nod in George's direction.

I heard a whimper behind me and saw that Rose was standing about two meters away holding out her arms out for me to hold her. I went over and held her to me close. As I opened my eyes, I saw the eyes of the girl in my arms copied onto the face of a man looking at me. He wasn't showing any expression but I knew I had it coming for me later.

'Mummy,' I heard Rose whisper in my ear, 'I want to stay here. I like them.' I laughed.

'It's not my choice. How about you ask them.' I put her down. She looked up at me and I nodded her on. She walked up to Ginny and held up her arms indicating that she wanted to be picked up in a way only the daughter of Hermione Granger could do. She whispered in her ear and Ginny kissed her on the cheek.

'I don't know. Let's ask the others what they think.' She turned Rose in her arms so the little girl was facing the Weasleys. 'Do you all think we should let Rosie stay here with us?' I saw everyone rubbing their chins with mock pondering gazes in their eyes.

'Please...' said Rose so quietly I didn't know if I'd even heard her. She had such a serious expression on her face like she didn't think they actually want her.

'Of course you can stay with us, Rosie.' Said Charlie and I saw her face lighten up and I heard her sweet, melodious laugh. She squirmed in Ginny's arms and ran towards Charlie. Whilst she was occupied with her uncle, I walked over to the younger boys but I saw that Ron had fallen back asleep so I walked over to Harry.

'She's beautiful, you know that.' He said looking at me. I nodded because of course she was beautiful; she was that child of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. 'I'm glad you came back. You're the only one he will ever talk about. You're the only one who can get through to him. He says he's fine. He isn't. Please. Go and talk to him.' Again, I nodded and went to the bed of the man who I had loved for eleven long years.

I looked at him and fell to the ground in tears. I stayed there until I felt two familiar hands grab mine, which had stayed on the edge of the bed, and pulled me up onto the bed. He held me close and I buried my face in his chest. I repeated that I was sorry and for a while, we stayed that way until he pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head.

'You can stop apologising now. I think I get it.' His voice was weak and strained.

'I'm sorry.' I said and then laughed.

'So, where have you been?' he asked seriously.

'Well, after you left, I went to live with my parents for a while until I found out I was pregnant. They kicked me out and so I had to make my own way around. I got all the money that I'd been saving up out of Gringotts and rented a small flat in London. Rose didn't know she was a witch until today. I promised I wouldn't expose her.' I said looking him in the eyes. 'What's happening in the wizarding world?'

'We killed Voldemort but the death eaters kept coming back. I think it was Malfoy who did this to us.' As he said this, my breath caught in my chest and my eyes welled up in tears. I looked away and saw that Rose was having fun entertaining the boys. I didn't know when but I knew that eventually everything would be alright.

'Rose,' I yelled up the staircase, 'If you don't hurry up, we will be late to the departure of the train!' I was holding Calypso in my arms and Ron was holding Marta. I had the two trunks on the ground in front of me. Hugo was sitting on his and he was looking very bored.

Hugo was born ten months after the first of September and was now starting his second year at Hogwarts in Gryffindor. Ron and I were married three weeks after he was born. Marta and Calypso were three years old. Rose was starting her sixth year and was a prefect for Ravenclaw.

When she finally cane prancing down the stairs and I saw she had a huge smile on her face. She picked up her trunk and went for the door.

'Rose is vewy happy.' Said Caly in my arms. I laughed and saw Ron and Hugo staring at the door Rose had just disappeared through with strange looks on their faces.

We followed her through the door and we were soon ready to go with all the children and trunks in the back of the car. Ron drove us to the train station where we met up with Harry, Ginny and their children James, Albus and Lily. We also met up with all the Weasley boys and their families. This brought us up to 14 children.

When we got through to the platform, most of the children separated and went to their friends. We were left with Lily, Roxanne, Louis, Lucy, Calypso and Marta. I looked around to see where the children were and instantly wished I hadn't. There, behind a pillar, where they obviously thought they wouldn't get caught, was Rose and Malfoy's son making out. I turned around but unluckily, Marta, who was standing next to me now, noticed them.

'Look Daddy,' she exclaimed, 'Rosie's kissing a boy!' I saw his face whiten at an alarming speed. A new adventure had just started.


End file.
